Kunar
At the end of the summer of 1986, we are told: we are going to Kunar. This is a terrible place, it was there that our entire platoon died before me. They landed from the helicopter in the clearing. Only one guy caught some hooks in the helicopter, and the pilots flew away with him. But it turned out that our people sat in the center of the "spiritual" gang! During the landing, the spooks hid, and then point-blank shot everyone. Only the guy who caught the hooks survived.
We arrived on armor, and there is such a serpentine road, the road five hundred meters down is cut right in the rock! I have never seen anything like this. We drove through the serpentine road, reached Surubi, and then went into the mountains on foot. We had to look for weapons. We walked for three days, twenty-five kilometers a day. Once I found a cave. We got up for the night. They searched it - it was clear that the spooks had escaped from here literally in front of us, the coals in the fire were still warm. Found sleeping bags, all sorts of rags, food. But there was no weapon. Then I see - at the top there is a gap fifty centimeters high. I say to Hammer: "Hold me." He got up as best he could, and stuck his hand further. Suddenly I feel something round! - “Sledgehammer, there is a mine! What to do?". - "Pull your hand sharply!" I pulled it, I'm waiting for an explosion - no …
They brought something to substitute, I got up and looked into the crack - it seemed not mined. I see - some jars. And they turned out to be pure essential oil for women's perfume! The platoon leader took all the jars from me. It turned out that one was worth about three hundred checks, more than the officer's monthly salary. We say to the commander: "Let me at least be anointed!" He: "Why would you smear yourself?" - "Why do you need them?" - "We will give to women."
To prevent the spooks from approaching unnoticed, they began to suspend lighting rockets on parachutes over the gorge. They hang for about twenty minutes, illuminating a huge area. And after the launch of each rocket, a sleeve falls down. And these empty cartridges with a terrible howl at us began to fall down every twenty minutes. We huddled in all directions, no one closed his eyes at night …
We had no water left for the last pass. Some passed out from dehydration. I went up first. And while the others were going up, I had already rested and was the first to go down. There were only three kilometers left to ours. I’m already walking along the plain, alone. And suddenly I see - on the left side of me, the sea and huge waves hit the shore with a terrible roar! I think: these are glitches! There cannot be here not only the sea, but even no lake. I close my eyes and ears. I open it - again I see and hear the surf! I have never seen such mirages before. I repeat to myself: "My name is Victor, I am in Afghanistan … Here is my rifle, I am in the mountains." And at the same time - natural hallucinations!
Suddenly I looked: to my right, water was pouring out of the ground! It pours, pours down the hollow, and then goes underground again. I stopped and thought: “These are glitches! What to do? . I decided to come closer. I put my hands into the stream - water flows between the fingers. I think: probably, in fact, it is sand, and the brain thinks that it is water. I decided to try to dial. He took a nylon flask, stuck it in - it really looks like water! I decided - I'll try to drink. He took out a filter and poured it into another flask through it. I threw disinfecting tablets, potassium permanganate there, mixed. I drink - water! It can't be that I'm drinking sand! I drank a liter, but I didn't even feel it. But after a while I felt water in my stomach, saliva appeared. And while walking the remaining two kilometers, my language began to work. Before that, I did not feel it.
And ours with the armor waving their hands at me, shooting into the air: ours, ours!.. He looked around - no one was following me. All our people who went to the mountains, for some reason, went along the mountain, this is a detour about eight kilometers. What for? I do not understand…
I got there. To me: “Are you crazy! Everything is mined there! (And I don't have a walkie-talkie! We were told that there were mines, and they went around the mountain.)
I drank two more liters of water from mine. But I already felt it, it's very good! After all, it often happened that a person, after dehydration, drinks five liters of water in one fell swoop, but he still wants to drink! After all, the mouth and stomach do not feel water at all! And it often ended very badly …
"Shadowboxing" in the Charikar Valley.
In October 1986, the missile regiment, which was stationed in Kabul, was withdrawn to the Union, it was decided that it was not needed here. And so that the spooks would not crush him on the way, an airborne division was ordered to accompany him.
We walked through the Charikar valley, which ends with the village of Jebal-Saraj. The column stretched for eight kilometers: one rocket vehicle, then a BMP or a tank, then again a vehicle - an BMP - a tank.
In the middle of the valley we stopped to spend the night. We decided: we will sleep, and the young will guard us. But the platoon leader says: “No, you and Sledgehammer will go to guard the tank. There are only four of them. " We: “Why? Let the young go! " - "I said, you go!". Nothing to do, let's go. But we think: we will find a young man there, he will guard, but we will go to bed anyway. We come - and there are four demobels! Upset …
I had to cast lots for who to stand when. Sledgehammer and I got it from two to four in the morning. Just lay down, the tanker wakes up. Me: "It can't be that it's already two o'clock!" I look at the clock - exactly two.
I got up, I stand, I guard … The tank was placed right next to the road, the cannon was turned towards the gorge. And between the road and the gorge there are 400 meters of vineyards. Sledgehammer sleeps on the edge in the hollow. I went up: "Sledgehammer, get up!" - "Yeah …". And he sleeps on. I think let him lie down for a while. I loaded cartridges into the rifle magazine, did something else. Twenty-five minutes have passed - the Sledgehammer is asleep. I try to wake up - no effect, does not wake up. And I alone have no pleasure in standing. I took the rifle, removed it from the safety lock and about fifty centimeters above his head - bang! Shot.
And the rifle shoots very loudly. The sledgehammer instantly, in a second, jumped up. He took off the machine from the fuse: “What, what happened ?! Where, who ?! - "There" spirits "shoot, and you sleep!". He immediately sat down a little and sideways from the machine - you-dy-melons, you-dy-melons … He began to shoot around him over the vineyard. But I miscalculated and hit the turret of the tank. The tankers woke up, our people around us also woke up. Everyone got out: "What happened?" Sledgehammer: "Dushmans there, dushmans!" And pokes his finger in the direction of the vineyard. The tankers immediately hid in the tank. I think: “Well, tankers, well, warriors! Frightened …
Suddenly I hear a sound - vyuyu-yuyu-yu… The tank, when it starts up, first emits such a specific sound. Then the engine itself roared. And before I even had time to think why they started the tank, the barrel turns and - bang!..
The distance from the trunk to the ground is only one and a half to two meters. And we are standing near the tank! We were pushed away by the blast wave and covered with thick dust. Deafened instantly. They fell and crawled to the side … But the tankers cannot calm down - bang again! We: "Crazy, crazy …".
A sledgehammer to me: "And where did the" spirits "shoot from?" - "What" spirits "! I just woke you up”. Sledgehammer: "If they find out, we definitely have a cover!"
And then everyone woke up and started firing from all the guns! We are standing, looking … Beauty!.. We launched flares, which descend on parachutes. Sledgehammer and I began to shoot at these parachutes - we competed to see who would shoot down more. We knew for sure that there were no dushmans …
The "fight" lasted twenty minutes. I say to Kuvalda: “Now you can calmly go to rest. One hundred percent spooks won't even come close!"
Breakout from the encirclement
I especially remember the environment in which we found ourselves in Pandshera. Pandsher was one of the most dangerous regions of Afghanistan, and Kunar was considered the most dangerous.
For a year and a half of service, I have been on Pandsher three times. Our Dembelya was there only once. And when they found out that we were going to Pandsher, they said that it was a nightmare - even faint. After all, they saw the corpses of the guys who were brought from there. And there were a lot of deaths, sometimes up to seventy percent of the personnel.
The platoon leader cheated at first: “Getting ready for combat! We fly there and there. In the other direction, it seems. And we went … to Pandsher. It was November 1986.
On the armor we went through the Charikar Valley again. The task was the usual - to climb the mountains and take your place. Our 1st company marched through the gorge and climbed the farthest hills, while our 1st platoon went the farthest and climbed the highest. At about the same level, a little lower, on the next hill, the company command was set up. Behind us was a gorge and a hill, higher than ours. Initially, we were supposed to climb it, but for some reason we didn’t. And there were "spirits"!..
I was very glad that young people were sent to us. I had two mines, many carried four. As always, I go first. I have already trained myself so that I am used to the fact that no one can overtake me. Suddenly I heard someone puffing behind me. I turn around - young from Chuvashia. His name was Fedya, his surname was Fedorov. I went faster, he is faster too. I am even faster, he is also faster. But I can't put up with someone overtaking me, not used to this! And then he began to overtake me! Me: “Fedya, what are you doing? Are you completely crazy? To overtake Dembel!.. ". He smiled and walked, walked, walked ahead of me … I: "Fedya, stop!" He got up. I give him two of my mines - if he's so smart! He silently took it and still tried to overtake me! But I did not give up and still overtook him in the end.
It was very happy that a reliable soldier appeared in the platoon. He did not say anything about the fact that I gave him the mines, he was not at all offended. And this was a test - what kind of person is? I, of course, then ordered him, drove him, but never touched.
There was a huge plateau in front of us. “Spiritual” ammunition must have been hidden somewhere here. For five days this area was combed by infantrymen. We lie, we look around - a beautiful view, an indescribable beauty!..
There are no dushmans, no shooting, but we immediately set up the position just in case, made a low wall of stones. We think: everyone is below, only one hill is about a kilometer higher than us. Why build a big position ?! That's enough …
We lay down on bulletproof vests, put machine guns by the stone, my sniper rifle. We pulled out dry rations, lit dry alcohol. We heat the cutlets on the pebbles. And suddenly - pum, pum!.. Explosions! We fell, we lie. I raise my head and see that they are shooting at us from the very same hill from above and almost directly at us! We crawled along our wall and saw: between our heads there is a metal "flower". This explosive bullet pierced the stone. The core flew away further, and a zinc shell remained in the sand.
And then such a shooting began! It can be seen that ten "spirits" are hitting us! And we can't even run three meters to machine guns and a rifle! Bullets hit my legs, very close. We are barely hiding behind our shelter, we are dragging bulletproof vests on our heads, we think to ourselves: "Here are two fools!.. We decided to eat cutlets …". But the artillery spotter, who was in charge of the company, helped us out. He called in artillery, they very clearly covered the hill. The "spirits" stopped shooting.
The exact distance to the hill was about two hundred meters, then I measured it with a rifle. There were about ten to twelve "spirits". We saw them running along the ridge. I shot. But as soon as the bullets began to hit nearby, they fell behind the stones - there they cannot be reached. And in general, this is almost the maximum sighting range of the SVD, and my rifle was already broken.
The shelling was very useful - no one from the demobels slept at night. And they were on guard not in two, but in four. The young, of course, were asleep, but the demobels did not want to sleep at all: the demobilization was in danger! There was a feeling that the "spirits" were very close. As soon as a stone falls, such elephant ears stretch in that direction!
We stood on this hill for six days. Once we went for dry rations, which were dropped to us from a helicopter. But before that, "spirits" attacked the helicopter, and the helicopter pilots simply threw out the boxes as they had to. The boxes broke and flew in different directions. "Spirits" also wanted to take dry rations. We were shooting, shooting at each other … But as soon as the artillery was brought in again, the "spirits" went beyond the ridge, and we got the remnants of dry rations.
Three days later, the helicopter pilots again arrived with their cargo. But they sat down lower, about three kilometers away, where the battalion commander was standing. We had to go there, and it takes an hour and a half or two. Send in seven ways.
We got there, took two boxes of cartridges, grenades, grenade launchers and dry rations. For some reason we were given mortar mines. We moved back. We see the path - very convenient at first glance, you can quickly go out to your friends, but one place on it gets shot!.. Although it was quiet all day, I say to Kuvalda: “Young people, if they want, can go here. But our demobilization is in danger! Let's go better along the ridges, it’s safer there”. And we went around, it's two and a half hours.
And after a while we hear: "spirits" began to shoot from machine guns. Then they banged out of the grenade launcher! They squeezed our young people. One was wounded almost immediately in the arm. The young people hid behind stones and for a very long time could not get out of there. The distance to the "spirits" was seven hundred meters. It's very close.
And we are going little by little … We have almost reached, but in front there is a hill and a hollow, like a horse saddle. First, a flat sandy surface, then a large stone lies, and on the side there is an abyss of fifty meters with sharp stones at the bottom. There is no way to go there.
We just leaned out into the open - the bullets in front of us are plowing the land!.. We are back! We decided to leave the boxes, run to our own people, and pick up the dry rations at night. They shot and shot at the "spirits", and I shout: "Sledgehammer, I ran!" And rushed to the stone! Immediately, they began to shoot at me, bullets around, like in a movie, beat the dust and sand into the ground! I have never seen this before!
Thank God, they didn’t get there. Fell over a stone. He is tall, my height. And then the sniper aimed at the stone five times aimed. I was sitting, sitting - suddenly biu-ooo!.. This is a bullet striking a stone. I sit further - biu-uu again … For the first time in all my time in Afghanistan this happened to me - a sniper squeezed me! I began to reckon: if this is one sniper who is shooting at this stone, then if I run the remaining twenty meters, it is unlikely that he will hit me. But why risk it? What if another bangs out of a grenade launcher? He will simply sweep me off this hill, nothing will be left of me. - "Sledgehammer, what to do?" - "Vityok, I don't know!"
While I was thinking, Sledgehammer rushed to me! I’ve lost my mind, because the two of us will be blown out of the grenade launcher in one shot! But he was like a brother to me, without him anywhere. We are already sitting behind a stone together. From time to time he sticks out his hands with a machine gun and - tyn-tyn-tyn-tyn! Me: “Why are you shooting anywhere ?!”. And the sniper again hits the stone - biu-uu!.. In the end I say: "Sit down, I ran." I waited for the next shot and pulled! The sniper shot at me, but missed, the bullet hit the sand about two meters away. I fell, rolled over the stones! Then he calmly went to his own.
Sledgehammer shout: "Wait!" The commander suggested where the spooks are. I took the rifle, began to look and noticed where the sniper was shooting from, saw the lights. It was about two kilometers before him, there were five more people with him. The sighting range of the SVD is one thousand four hundred meters. I shot straight, looked where I hit. Then he took it higher - the bullet hit not far from the "spirits". They scattered in different directions, and then generally went down the hill. I shout: "Sledgehammer, run!" He also ran these twenty meters.
And our young people were so trapped until nightfall and sat. When the artillery was brought in, the "spirits" began to shoot at them from the other side. But at night, all the same, ours managed to get out to the platoon.
It turns out that there were many dushmans in this area. Before that, we were told that somewhere there were "black storks" (special forces of the Afghan mujahideen. - Ed.). And sure enough, the next day, the "spirits" suddenly launched an attack on us! They really turned out to be "black storks", all in black clothes and high-top sneakers. We were told earlier that these "storks" are well prepared, that they have very clear tactics: they do not run one by one, but some run - others cover them. In short, they act like a regular military unit.
It all started unexpectedly. We sit quietly on our site: we have grenade launchers, communication with artillery. And suddenly shooting began, and the "spirits" from the opposite side of the gorge ran down in our direction! The distance to them was a kilometer and a half, it is directly opposite us. At first we saw about thirty people, and there are only thirteen of us on this hill. But on the other side, "spirits" are still running along the gorge! And one more group, about ten people, went down the ridge from behind! That is, they began to bypass us from three sides at once.
The company commander transmits by radio: “The other two platoons of the company have already descended from the hills and retreated to the battalion command. And the battalion commander (a young officer, just flew in from the Union) ordered you to cover the gorge and hold back the attacking onslaught."
We say to ourselves: "Yes, the battalion commander is just a sick person!" After all, the fool understands - with such a development of events, everyone is covered … The tactics of the spooks in such cases are well-known: at night they come close, three hundred meters, and point-blank shoot from a grenade launcher or mortar. And if we had someone killed or even seriously wounded, then we would not be able to go anywhere at all - you won’t leave … And then the battalion commander decided to gather the entire battalion into one heap! This is exactly what the spooks need! After all, they do not have the task of interrupting everyone at once. The main thing is to have losses.
And our situation is generally unenviable - there are only thirteen of us, and we are standing alone on the farthest hill. Of course we will fight back. And there is ammunition, and a mortar. But will you get out of the mortar for sure? Well, let's pull it off, well, maybe it hurts someone at best …
The platoon leader gives the command: “So, everyone to battle! Store cartridges! ". After that we only fired singles. The "spirits" are hiding behind the stones, but still they are slowly but surely advancing towards us! From stone to stone, closer and closer … It became clear that the situation had changed radically. Then it became clear that the "spirits" went not only to us, they went to the whole battalion at once! There were a lot of them here. Then they said that there were about five hundred people.
But there was no time and desire to count "spirits". I just wanted to survive. We were ordered to stand on the mountain and hold the line. And what is the point of standing here when we are practically surrounded? Dushmans crawl along the gorge, climb from the opposite hill, go around the side along the ridge. And we no longer cover anyone - all of ours went to the battalion commander. And then after a while the most terrible thing happened: the "spirits" had already entered between us and the battalion! We were completely surrounded …
The day ends, two hours remain before dark. The platoon commander says, "Looks like we have a cover." We: "Yes …". For some reason, there were no helicopters. Previously, in such situations, the "turntables" often took us off the hill - and goodbye, "spirits"!
The battalion commander told our platoon commander on the radio once again definitely: "To stand to the death, to keep the spooks!" And this is generally nonsense! He himself just handed over the slides, which in such a situation had to be held at any cost, and now he tells us to stand on the farthest slide to death. I decided to play the war … (As a result, he almost killed the entire battalion, the losses were heavy.)
Then, somehow, by itself, the proposal matured: maybe we will drape? I want to live … Platoon leader: "Tribunal …". We: "But they will not be sentenced to death!" - “Yes, you will have nothing! And I am four years old. " - "And if they force you?" - "Who will force?" - "We will force." - "Come on, make …". Me: "No problem!" And - boom-boom into the ground from the rifle. He: “Everything is clear. Let's "make legs"! ".
The distance between our platoon and the main forces of the division was about seven kilometers. This, if in the mountains, is a lot. The commander orders: "Quick mortar for battle!"They shot all the mines, fired all the grenades from the grenade launchers into the "spirits". Everything that could not be left was tied up and blown up. The dry rations were thrown away - we had a few hours left to live, what kind of food was there … All the water was also poured out, each left himself quite a bit. Almost all the cartridges were shot from machine guns, left for one battle. The platoon leader commands: "Run!" And we ran down …
We run, we shoot back. As soon as we went down the hill, and the "spirits" are already shooting at us from it! We run along the gorge. They are galloping behind us! They don’t have backpacks, and although we threw everything out to the maximum, with our backpacks! And we cannot throw off the body armor, although the plates were thrown out of them.
I ran behind, two hundred meters behind us. Tired, I decided to walk a little. And suddenly, about twenty meters away, a black silhouette flies out from behind the stones! I hear - vzhiu-oo-oo …. This "spirit" sneakers slowed down on the stones. I did not have time to really figure out anything, as he began to shoot at me … ("Spirits" were running after us along the gorge. We had just turned, and this one, you see, cut off the corner and flew at me just around the corner. But ours were ahead of us. about two hundred meters, he did not expect to see me here. The "Spirit" still hit me. Then, when he came to the unit and began to wash clothes, I see a hole in the hood. I think: what am I hooked on? unusual - the edges are even, clear. I began to search - I found another one of the same in trousers.)
I have good peripheral vision - I see lights, I hear the sound of shooting. And then my consciousness passed out, and I saw my whole life. And I saw my whole life as a whole, from the very first to the very last day. As on a film strip, minute by minute, by second … What happened before that moment could somehow be explained: here I was born, now they shake me in my arms, here I go to school … And my future life had no words. It's like the Holy Spirit that cannot be explained. You can neither touch nor see. It's a secret.
In a moment I came to my senses. I woke up - I was lying behind a stone. He pulled out the grenade, and she was already in a combat state, ready. I pulled out the ring and threw it away! And immediately after the explosion, he jumped out, fired several times from a rifle - and how he blew!..
Ahead I see Seryoga Ryazanov. I shout: "Sledgehammer, do not leave me alone!" And how I rushed after him!.. And suddenly I saw in front of me a white, round, ovoid cloud. It is inexplicable, informational. Inside it is my future life. From above, like a film, is what I have lived through. And inside - what I have yet to live. I run - tryn-tryn-tryn, and the cloud decreases with every step … I run and think: "Lord, at least remember something, at least remember something!" I feel - nothing is remembered. And again! There is nothing … It lasted thirty seconds. What was there?!. I can't remember anything!
He ran to Kuvalda, he waited for me. We ran to the platoon commander with the guys: they are shooting back. "Spirits" are running after us along the ridge and nearby. Here again the order from the battalion commander: “Everyone, lie down, don't go anywhere! We will wait until darkness and we will go out."
But the platoon commander decided this: if we had already left the skyscraper, then we would run further. Asks: "Who will stay?" The solution is clear: someone must stay behind and stop the "spirits" so that they do not run at a gallop. Silence … The commander looks at me. Me: “Why are you looking at me, comrade commander? I'm demobilized! " - “Who is the sniper? You're a sniper! " (When we ran before, I hugged the rifle and, as best I could, hid it. After all, the sniper will definitely be shot in the first place!)
I was very unhappy, I really didn't want to stay. I didn't want to die, because demobilization - here it is, next to it! But … stayed. Commander: “We will not run far from you. As soon as we start shooting at the "spirits", you run to us. " And then Sledgehammer says: "Vityok, I'm with you." The commander could not order him. - "Stay."
Ours ran, Seryoga and I fell down and began to shoot aimingly. The goal was not to kill all the "spirits", it was just necessary to make them fall at least for a while. As a result, our people still broke away from the dushmans. And we respectively broke away from the platoon …
Now Sledgehammer and I ran. We run in turn: one hundred meters will run, fall, shoot. At this time, the other is running, then he falls, shoots. So we cover each other. But in order to move like this, you need very strong muscles. You have to run, fall, then shoot right away, and then run again without interruption … The shortness of breath is terrible, because you breathe incorrectly.
I shot back, but Sledgehammer does not run to me! "Spirits" hit us from the sides and from behind. From where the battalion is, they are also running towards us along the gorge! I come back and run up to him: "Seryoga, we must run!" And he stands on all fours and breathes deeply like a dog: “I can't, Vityok, I can't!..”. It can be seen that everything inside him is on fire. Me: “Sledgehammer!.. We must run! You can! You are demobilized! " - "I can't, Vityok …". And then a dushman unexpectedly helped …
We are on all fours and shoot from time to time. Bullets hit the parapet from the front, and they shoot at us from the other side! And suddenly the "spirit" hits the parapet with an explosive bullet! (It seemed to me that the bullet was a large-caliber one. But, perhaps, from a rifle an armor-piercing incendiary bullet from a short distance gives such an effect.) The earth flew into Seryoga's face, fell behind the collar, into the ear. He fell, but immediately jumped up and how let's pour in bursts around, like an institute! Me: "Sledgehammer, save the cartridges!" And then he jerked like an elk and rushed three-meter steps! I grabbed the rifle, I can't catch up with him - he ran away three hundred meters! The bullets were already flying between us. Me: "Sledgehammer, don't leave me!"
One "spirit" quite insolently runs right at me! I shot him several times and again rushed after the Sledgehammer. It was very scary to be left alone. And together - it seems not so scary. I thank God that He gave me such a person as Seryoga Ryazanov.
I run to Kuvalda, and he told me: "Vityok, I remembered a joke here!" And he is trying to tell me a joke. I told him: "Run faster!..". It's funny to remember now, but then, in fact, it was very much not laughing …
Even at the high-rise, we reported on the radio that we had "three hundredth" (one young man was wounded in the arm). To us from the battalion sent a "pill" (medical instructor. - Ed.), Someone else went with him. They run to us, and between us - already "spirits"! We show them: lie down, lie down!.. And they wave their hands - hello, hello! I had to shoot at the "spirits". Didn't hit, but put it down. They fell.
The medic, wagging between the bullets, somehow reached us (I still maintain a relationship with him, he now lives in Moscow). Says: “Listen, it is simply impossible to be around with this moron-battalion commander! This is a sick person, he does not know what he is doing at all! Everyone will lie down, we will go out at night!.. As soon as they said that I had to go to you, I grabbed my bag and ran away from there. And the one that happened to me, followed me after me - I, they say, will cover him."
We have almost reached the division. But the spooks are still running after us! Somewhere a kilometer ahead, I saw tanks and infantry fighting vehicles. They began to shoot over our heads at the spooks, they hid behind the hill. It turned out that we all the same left the dushmans … Just then it began to get dark.
They got along somehow … No one had a single cartridge left in the shops, the first time this was for all the combat ones! I even remembered that when there were five hundred meters left to my own, I decided to fire the last cartridge. Click, click - an empty store. And there were no grenades, we threw them all away. Of course, everyone had one cartridge - sewn into the collar …
When they came to their own people, they were afraid that they would immediately arrest us. After all, we did not carry out the order of the battalion commander! But the division commander (then it was Pavel Grachev) hugged the platoon commander: “Order of the Red Star, no questions asked! The only commander who did the right thing. All the rest - medals. (They even wrote me a performance on the Red Star! But once again I didn't get it …)
It got dark. Those of ours who were going to the battalion commander were surrounded by the spooks. And we see the picture that we were supposed to see: the "spirits" at close range from grenade launchers began to shoot the battalion. Flash - Explosion! Flash - explosion!.. We were sitting at the radio, the speakerphone was turned on. It was simply unbearable to listen to the negotiations! The guys shouted so terribly!..
On the edge of the division's position, all howitzers, Grad installations, tanks, hundred-twenty-millimeter guns were installed. The encircled battalion was about four kilometers away. The artillery spotters gave the coordinates, the artillery fired back. Dushmans seemed to be driven away by artillery fire. And then the whole division, except for us, rushed to the rescue. They made a corridor, and the remnants of the battalion began to leave on their own. They carried the dead and wounded. A terrible sight …
The battalion commander then laid down almost his entire battalion. After all, he sat down in the hollow, and the "spirits" stood on the hills around. The battalion was in full view of them. (The battalion commander served with us for only three months, he was removed and sent to the Union. For this battle everyone hated him. He walks by, and he is called aloud - "Solarik". This is the most contemptuous name for the infantry among the paratroopers.)
Then twenty people died, there were many more wounded. My only fellow countryman was wounded in the knee, his cup was shattered. They sent him to the medical battalion, then to the hospital, then to Tashkent. There he was supposed to have his leg amputated above the knee, but he was lucky: a famous professor from France who specialized in nerve endings was just in Tashkent. He said that he would try to do everything possible, and took my fellow countryman as a test subject to the Burdenko hospital in Moscow. There he underwent three operations and saved his leg! She works for him, bends. But he walks as if on a prosthesis.
Our doctor, Captain Anatoly Kostenko, performed a feat in this battle. The Blue Berets group dedicated a song to him. A friend of mine, who was wounded in this battle, told me about it. When he was wounded, the doctor dragged him into a hole of some kind. I tied it up, put a net, and injected promedol. It seems to have become easier for him. And suddenly a friend sees: the "spirit" is running! Literally five or seven meters before him. Shouts: "Spirit" from behind! ". Anatoly turned around - and fell on the wounded man with his whole body, covered him with himself!.. Eight bullets hit him. And he was without a bulletproof vest. He died immediately.
A sniper from our company, Igor Potapchuk, in this battle, a bullet hit the arm and hurt his spine. He was discharged. The route is the same: hospital, Tashkent, Burdenko. Then he was transferred to the Podolsk hospital. He lay there for several years. At first, one hand refused, then the other. One leg, then the other. Once he asked his relatives to be put at the window - sort of like looking out into the street. But when his request was fulfilled, he threw himself out the window. But he did not die - there was a grid below. They put him back in the hospital. But in the end he died. Immediately after Afgan I was looking for him, I wanted to see him: after all, we are snipers, from the same company. But by that time he had already died. I'm going to find where he was buried in Belarus (I often go there) and go at least to his grave.
The next day after the encirclement we were taken up the hill by helicopter. For another four days we combed the area and finally came out to the beginning of Salang. The second battalion was in front of us. They're undermining! It turned out that the road itself and the shoulders were mined. Everyone was told to stand on the stones, then they generally got up for the night.
We sit with Sledgehammer at night, telling jokes to each other so as not to fall asleep. And suddenly we hear someone from the gorge ascending to us! Our ears, like locators, turned in that direction! Once and again - stones fell, once and again - more stones fell. Precisely "perfume"! We had grenade launchers and a machine gun. "Let's shoot!" - "Let's!". And you could shoot without warning. They fired a grenade launcher at random, some grenades exploded close, some farther away. Added from a machine gun and from a machine gun. Everyone shouts: "What is there?!.". - "Spirits" rise! ". And everyone started shooting and throwing grenades!
The commander shouts: "That's it, everyone stop!" Echo walks in the gorge … Before that, no one slept all night. And I say to Kuvalda: “Now you can go to bed. "Spirits" will definitely not climb now."
The next morning it became clear that we were at war with a herd of sheep. We went down and collected the carcasses. One guy with us worked as a butcher before the army, began to process carcasses with a sapper shovel. But then helicopter pilots came for us and said that they would take all the meat to their regiment! We began to swear with them. (Although the pilots are all officers, the paratroopers talk to them on an equal footing.) They: "Soldier, I'm under a tribunal!" - “Who are you to send a paratrooper to the tribunal? Now you will get a bullet in the forehead! " But they took away the meat anyway, they didn't leave us anything at all. We were very offended by them then, so we wanted to make shish kebabs …
"How I Almost Killed My Own"
We returned from Pandsher to the unit. The armor stopped, everyone jumped to the ground. Gathered together, platoon, port. Order: Unload the weapon! This is done like this: you direct the weapon with the barrel up. Then you take off the store, twitch the shutter several times. If you pull the trigger, you hear a click - it means there is no cartridge in the chamber. You put the machine on the fuse, connect the magazine and - the machine on your shoulder. The weapon was already unloaded. But so we just checked it again.
The same had to be done with the armor weapon. On the BMP of our platoon, the operator was a young guy. He seemed to understand his technique. But he still had a problem.
We stand, waiting for the armor to check the weapon. Here the platoon commander says to me: “The BMP's cannon is not discharged. Go, unload! " Me: "The operator is sitting on the armor, let him do his own thing himself!" - "Go!" - "Will not go!". Everything boiled inside me. Then the company commander came up. And I have even more reaction to him: “He is your soldier! Let him do his direct business! I did not shirk, I was the last to leave the encirclement! And all this time he was resting on the armor. So I would train: charge - discharge, charge - discharge … ". But, no matter how I kicked out, they forced me to climb into the BMP.
I ran to the car, jumped. And then such anger attacked me! I just threw the operator out of the BMP. I climb inside, the company’s political officer is sitting there. - “Come on, discharge it quickly! The whole regiment is waiting for us. And everyone really stands, shifting from foot to foot, just waiting for us. After all, there are letters, a bath, a movie ahead …
I opened the cannon cover, detached the shells. I look into the trunk - I see a bright spot at the end, the sky. This means that the trunk is free. I looked at the triplex: the driver was standing in front of the BMP. He crossed his arms on his chest, pushed his helmet to the top of his head and rests his back against the barrel of the cannon. I think: “What an idiot, though demobilization! Does he really not understand what we are doing inside? We are checking the gun!"
I automatically made all the necessary movements: I closed the cover, pulled the lever and pressed the release button. And then a shot !!! My legs became cottony from fear instantly. I realized that I had just struck the driver with a shell … But where did the shell come from ?! He was absent! I saw the sky through the trunk!
The zampolit got scared even more than me. After all, all the responsibility, it turns out, is on him. He's near! From fear, he began to stutter violently. Shouts: "Come out!..". And my legs don't work out of fear. After all, I finally understood that I was finished: in front of the whole regiment, I tore the driver apart with a shell.
My legs don't work, I barely got up. It’s scary to get out of the hatch: there I’ll see the eyes of the whole regiment! And plus I face at least four years in prison. This all happened in plain sight, such a loss cannot be attributed to combat.
I get out, turn in the direction of the gun … And there the driver looks at me: huge eyes, hair standing on end from under the helmet … Me: "Are you alive?!.". He waves his head: "Alive!" I immediately had strength. He jumped out and hugged him. He says in my ear: "Moksha, you almost killed me …".
It was a real miracle. The driver told me that when I pushed the cannon cover back into place, it was as if someone had pushed it in the back. He decided to look and turned back. And at that moment a shot! The shell flew right behind him. He was saved by a bulletproof vest, which even burned a little. And the helmet also saved him. The helmet was on the ears, and only because of this the eardrums did not burst. (But for two weeks he walked half deaf. And all the time he said to me: “You almost killed me!”.)
And the whole regiment, headed by the commander, is looking at us. They say to me: "Get up in line, then we'll figure it out."They also told me later that I almost shot down the plane with my shell. The BMP stood with a cannon in the direction of Kabul. At that moment, when I shook out the cannon, our AN-12 aircraft was taking off from the airfield, accompanied by two helicopters. Helicopters fired off heat traps. The guys said: “We are looking: a red dot is flying straight into the plane! We grabbed our heads … ". But the shell flew past and flew off somewhere in Kabul.
I remember my condition. Before that, I was a gallant paratrooper: demobilized, sniper, just got out of the encirclement! And then, quietly, like a mouse, he got into line …
But there was nothing for me. True, the company commander summoned him and said everything that he thinks of me. Then I met the regiment commander. He: "You almost killed a man!" - “Comrade lieutenant colonel, yes I understand. I am to blame … ". That was the end of it.
I then thought for a long time why it happened. It all happened because of the anger that completely captured me. I was angry that the gun was forced to test me, and not the guy who sleeps all day and does nothing. When I opened the cover and looked in, I actually saw not the sky, but the back of the projectile. It was twenty-five centimeters before her. The rear part of the projectile is matte-metal, and I took it for the sky. But out of anger, I didn't even realize that there was a dust cover on the end of the gun barrel. So, in principle, I could not see any sky. And when I later looked at the triplex, I also did not realize that the driver was blocking the sky with his back. But my head was so angry that when I saw a bright spot in the barrel, I mechanically closed the cover, pulled the lever and pressed the release button.
After that, my attitude towards weapons changed a lot. I got a special sense of responsibility. It became clear that the machine must look either up or down. You should never aim it at people! And when I saw soldiers who dabbled and pointed machine guns at each other, I saw myself in their place. After all, the cartridge can be in the chamber! They can kill each other!
(We had such cases. The worst happened in the 3rd company. They lived from us in the barracks across the corridor. On the battlefield, often because of heavy backpacks, we sat down to rest, with our backs against each other. Then, after rest, sitting alone puts on a backpack, and the other lifts it by the hands, like a peg. He picked it up, then sat down himself, put on the backpack. And already the standing man lifts him by the hands. Once we went down from the mountains and wade across the Kabul river. Our 3rd company was served by two brothers from Murmansk, both six months younger than I. When the brothers began to sit back to back, one was holding a submachine gun on his shoulder. The cartridge was in the chamber, and the safety was in the position of firing bursts. He accidentally pulled the trigger and a whole line hit another brother from behind in the head. He died instantly …)
After the incident with the gun, all those who like to joke with machine guns scared me. If I found out about pampering with weapons, then I would come, put on a bulletproof vest on the joker and with all my might hit him on the back with a flat machine gun! No one refused this execution - they knew that they were guilty. But after this blow, the jokers remembered one hundred percent that this should not be done. And if at one time someone gave me on the shoulder blades like this, then it would definitely have come to me.
And these seemingly primitive methods worked. When we first arrived, they caught me demobilized with an extra button open on my jacket. (The jacket of the paratroopers is not fastened to the top anyway. But we unbuttoned one more button so that the vest was better visible.) During the cleaning of weapons, the demobilization says to me: "Soldier, come here!" I'm coming over. Dembelya are at the dugout, where you need to hide during shelling. One shows me an F-1 grenade. Asks: “What is this? Specifications?". I answer: “Defensive grenade F-1. The radius of the scattering of the fragments is two hundred meters. " - "Attention!" He pulls out the ring and sharply shoves a grenade into my vest! Immediately they throw me aside with their hands and instantly everyone hides from the dugout!
Of course, out of habit of fear, it was possible to fumigate. But I knew this topic, one demobilization told me earlier. The grenade is real, but without the fuse part. There is a click, but there is no explosion! Thanks to the demobilization, I knew what would happen next. Therefore, he looked around, where there were no people, pulled out a grenade from his bosom and threw it in that direction. Dembelya got out of the dugout and said approvingly: "Well done, smart!" And one of our soldiers, who did not know about this joke, by an inhuman effort tore off his tunic and vest, pulled out a grenade and, without looking, threw it aside. And there were people … Dembel came out and punched him in the chest! He: "For what?!.". - “And you threw a grenade at people! You had to pull out a grenade, look around and throw it where there is no one!"
Afghan survival racing
It was December 1986. An armistice was announced and we were told that there would be no hostilities in the near future. Sitting in a regiment is like in a prison, so I asked for a combat escort on the BMP-2. Before the sniper, I was a gunner-operator, I have a document. He took his rifle, sat in the tower, and we went to Bagram to accompany the column. It is about sixty kilometers from Kabul. And on the way there was a very significant incident. Our column consists of three infantry fighting vehicles. Three infantry armored personnel carriers are walking towards us. Below on the BMP, a large, large sign of the airborne troops is painted with white paint - a parachute and two aircraft. It can be seen from afar. And the paratroopers have a very tense relationship with the infantry.
We go to the BMP tower, play something. We are in experimental bulletproof vests, in helmets. They also laughed at these bulletproof vests - they weighed eighteen kilograms! How to climb the mountains in them?!. Abnormal people have invented them.
I don’t remember what we played, but if you lose, you’ll hit your helmet on the head - bam! And then suddenly we hear the sound of a terrible blow! But it was not we who knocked, but our neighboring car. Collided head-on with an armored personnel carrier.
It turned out that the infantry began to scare the paratroopers and went into the oncoming lane. Our driver is to the side, the APC is also to the side. They swerved back and forth again. The driver of the armored personnel carrier did not have time to turn it back, and they crashed into each other at full speed. The BMP is slightly taller than the APC, its nose is sharper and heavier. Therefore, the BMP stepped on the armored personnel carrier, cut off the turret and fell back onto the road with a terrible crash!.. And the armored personnel carrier rolled head over heels and after fifty meters flew off the road.
They stopped and ran out. There were four people in the APC. One's head was blown off at once, the rest are unconscious. Doctors and military investigators were summoned. They reported who we were and drove on to Bagram.
When we go back in a day or two, the APC is lying around in the same place. He is guarded by two other armored personnel carriers. The investigator walks right there. We stopped to see what's what. And suddenly we see - and inside the armored personnel carrier the corpse of a soldier lies, covered with a robe! We: wow! Until now, the corpse lies, not taken away … And then the "corpse" suddenly rises abruptly! How we screwed up … And it turns out that the guard slept under the robe. Then they laughed all the way: paratroopers, demobilization … We are not afraid of Dushmanov, but here we were so scared …
The three infantrymen who survived the collision later died. A criminal case was opened on the fact of the collision. We were summoned by the investigator, we drove to the place to testify in three infantry fighting vehicles. And then we were overtaken by four infantry armored personnel carriers. And what's going on ?! Our speed is sixty kilometers, and theirs is eighty or ninety kilometers. One armored personnel carrier at full speed turns sharply to the right and hits our car with its side! And all four flew further along the road …
But the infantry was very unlucky: the curfew began, and neither they nor us were allowed further. I had to stop overnight at the checkpoint. We drive up, and they stand in a row. We stood side by side. Our castle, a healthy one, a master of sports in boxing, approaches the armored personnel carrier - "Soldier, come out!" It turns out so small, so thin! The deputy commander to him - bam, soldier swark about the armored personnel carrier! To the rest: "Come out!" Those: "We will not leave …". He came closer, lifted the soldier into the air and said: “Puppy, only three days ago your comrades died from a head-to-head blow! And you go there too … ". And threw the soldier to the ground. We then got very angry with the infantry: guys, why did you come here! To lay down our heads in road races, and even to destroy other people ?!
